Cad Cam Warrior
Platform: Commodore 64
Gametype: Undefined
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Cad Cam Warrior by Taskset is game that has generated quite a bit of interest on the C64 scene. Boasting 8192 levels, it's a game that we all wondered whether it had any sort of ending.

The game itself is a simple 2D action game where you have to collect items and clear the levels of enemy droids to progress to the next. The action is incredibly limited and gets progressively more difficult, making it virtually impossible to get through all 8000+ levels. The levels seem to be generated by some mathematical formula or algorithm which alters their appearance slightly. Technically there probably are 8192 levels - but the differences are so small that you'll wonder if there really are more than a handful of levels. The graphics and sound are minimalist with a handful of sprites used throughout the game.

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Review

To commemorate 11 years since my last review for lemon.com I decided to delve into a folder on my hard disk I have filled with games I repeatedly go back to nearly 30 years after I first encountered them. This review is for a Taskset game called Cad Cam Warrior. 

Take a glance at the screenshots and ask yourself, why on earth would you spend time replaying what, on the surface, is a rather tedious space blaster? It's a good question, and not one I can readily answer readily either. 

Cad Cam Warrior features a 1950- influenced robot, wandering a seemingly endless dual play field dispatching various meanies. 

It's austere and apparently lacks even a basic plot premise. I never saw any documentation and thus, have no idea what the aim ever was. You arrive at its minimalist title screen without even a hint of a plot. I used my imagination then, just as I do now. Perhaps that is why it still holds magic over me today. It required the player to fill in blanks, rather than passively absorbing, as you played. Its appeal is comprised in its very ambiguousness. 

You played a robot of no known origin blasting other robots and creatures of nothing noteworthy on virtually featureless landscapes. The rudimentary controls allow you to move and shoot in 8 directions occasionally collecting tokens which reveal clues, useful later in the game. Destroy all the enemies, dodging the fireballs and you are allowed to select the next level from a handful of phases. There is a timer here which lurches around with no apparent function, but each of the subsequent levels contains a minor variation on the previous with a new assortment of enemies. 

What raises this title above the norm is the ability to drop through holes in the upper level to a shadowy underside, often where the tokens and bonuses are located. To the over-active imagination of a 10 year old there was something rather sinister about this aspect of the game. It brought to mind a Tron-like warrior fighting inside a giant supercomputer. Stay alive and seek sanctuary above the horizon:- drop down to the dark mirror world and fight the remaining hoards! 

I had somewhat missed-the-boat when it came to Taskset's titles, only coming to the 64 in 1986. Already by then, their games were appearing on murky compilations published by Beau Jolly, bought by well-meaning relatives, or on assorted, unlabelled disks "borrowed from a friend". This was one such game. Stuck in the middle of a tape compilation, sandwiched between Eddie Kidd's Jump Challenge and a god-awful character based maze game, I almost missed this stand-out sci-fi shooter boasting an incredible 8000 levels. 

It was sparsely presented, graphically basic and, at times, downright unfair. To this day I never came close to working out what to do, but playing it again I'm transported to simpler days where we were led to believe the technology we had in our homes may very well contain sentient, electronic organisms, engaged in a perpetual duel to the death! Who knew? ...I'm eyeing my smart phone with suspicion as we speak. 

It seems the author had a nasty sense of humour too. If by some fluke (or hacking) you complete all 8192 levels you are presented with the message " 'AIN'T LIFE A BITCH. BACK IN PHASE 1". Charming! 

I must draw your attention to the score to your right and add this proviso to the review criteria:- Knock half off the scores if you are coming to this game for the first time, because it has dated horribly. The movement is sluggish, the flip between upper and lower playing fields is cruel and disorientating and the sound is laughable. If you remember this the first time round, it will still carry you on a nostalgic trip to those halycon 80s afternoons. It's still worth a play today.


http://www.c64endings.freeolamail.com/endings/c/cadcamwarrior/cadcamwarrior.htm
http://www.lemon64.com/?mainurl=http%3A//www.lemon64.com/reviews/
